Post Racial America: Voter ID and driver's license office closures black-out Alabama's Black Belt

[AthenaAwakened]

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/09/voter_id_and_drivers_license_o.html

Depending on which counties you count as being in Alabama's Black Belt, either twelve or fifteen Black Belt counties soon won't have a place to get a driver's license.

Counties where some of the state's poorest live.

Counties that are majority African-American.

Combine that with the federally mandated Star ID taking effect next year, and we're looking at a nightmare.

Or a trial lawyer's dream.

When the state passed Voter ID, Republican lawmakers argued that it was supposed to prevent voter fraud. Democrats said the law was written to disenfranchise black voters and suppress the voice of the poor.

Maybe, maybe not.

But put these two things together -- Voter ID and 29 counties without a place where you can get one -- and Voter ID becomes what the Democrats always said it was.

 

[Derec]

I am in favor of having to show id to vote. After all, proving your identity is important and functioning without id is pretty much impossible anyway.
However, there should be a good coverage with driver's licence offices as well. At least 2 per county, more for more populous ones. They do not all have to be full service affairs with testing facilities but sufficient coverage with offices doing DL renewal and issuance of "id only" cards should be doable without breaking the budget.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

It's been obvious from the start what the real purpose is.

This article amounts to evidence of the wetness of water.

 

[Metaphor]

Not that I believe the 'voter fraud' idea for a moment (you don't have to show ID to vote in Australia and voting here is compulsory), but has there actually been any documentation of this 'voter fraud', ever? I don't mean as an abstract possibility, but some kind of documented evidence?

 

[AthenaAwakened]

Not that I believe the 'voter fraud' idea for a moment (you don't have to show ID to vote in Australia and voting here is compulsory), but has there actually been any documentation of this 'voter fraud', ever? I don't mean as an abstract possibility, but some kind of documented evidence?

A comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation finds 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast

 

[Keith&Co.]

but has there actually been any documentation of this 'voter fraud', ever?

I remember a Doonesbury strip showing that in one state, the documented cases of voter fraud were exactly equal to the documented sightings of Big Foot.

So maybe Voter ID is really an effort to capture cryptids?

 

[laughing dog]

I am in favor of having to show id to vote. After all, proving your identity is important and functioning without id is pretty much impossible anyway.
However, there should be a good coverage with driver's licence offices as well. At least 2 per county, more for more populous ones. They do not all have to be full service affairs with testing facilities but sufficient coverage with offices doing DL renewal and issuance of "id only" cards should be doable without breaking the budget.

Your beliefs are irrelevant in the face of the overwhelming actual evidence that voter ID is an method to dissuade and prevent certain groups from voting.

 

[RavenSky]

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/09/voter_id_and_drivers_license_o.html

Depending on which counties you count as being in Alabama's Black Belt, either twelve or fifteen Black Belt counties soon won't have a place to get a driver's license.

Counties where some of the state's poorest live.

Counties that are majority African-American.

Combine that with the federally mandated Star ID taking effect next year, and we're looking at a nightmare.

Or a trial lawyer's dream.

When the state passed Voter ID, Republican lawmakers argued that it was supposed to prevent voter fraud. Democrats said the law was written to disenfranchise black voters and suppress the voice of the poor.

Maybe, maybe not.

But put these two things together -- Voter ID and 29 counties without a place where you can get one -- and Voter ID becomes what the Democrats always said it was.

Are we ever going to reach the point where enough is enough? How blatant does this shit need to get?

 

[AthenaAwakened]

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/09/voter_id_and_drivers_license_o.html

Depending on which counties you count as being in Alabama's Black Belt, either twelve or fifteen Black Belt counties soon won't have a place to get a driver's license.

Counties where some of the state's poorest live.

Counties that are majority African-American.

Combine that with the federally mandated Star ID taking effect next year, and we're looking at a nightmare.

Or a trial lawyer's dream.

When the state passed Voter ID, Republican lawmakers argued that it was supposed to prevent voter fraud. Democrats said the law was written to disenfranchise black voters and suppress the voice of the poor.

Maybe, maybe not.

But put these two things together -- Voter ID and 29 counties without a place where you can get one -- and Voter ID becomes what the Democrats always said it was.

Are we ever going to reach the point where enough is enough? How blatant does this shit need to get?

Pretty damn blatant. Maybe when black folk are being beaten on the courthouse steps for trying to vote. But even then you will have people looking at the beaten and bloodied all the while googling to see if these citizens have criminal records and can then be blamed for their own assault

 

[Keith&Co.]

That and observing that the would-be-voters were armed with sidewalks...

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Not that I believe the 'voter fraud' idea for a moment (you don't have to show ID to vote in Australia and voting here is compulsory), but has there actually been any documentation of this 'voter fraud', ever? I don't mean as an abstract possibility, but some kind of documented evidence?

A comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation finds 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast

There's a lot more than that, it just doesn't get caught. The thing is it's people voting absentee ballots in place of the rightful voter that can no longer do so.

 

[ksen]

A comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation finds 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast

There's a lot more than that, it just doesn't get caught. The thing is it's people voting absentee ballots in place of the rightful voter that can no longer do so.

You're in the "no documented evidence" camp?

 

[Horatio Parker]

All politics is local.

Dean's "50 state" plan has been dead for years, and the Dems have lost ground locally and at the state level.

Expect more of this.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

This isn't a race issue. There are no longer race issues. The majority of the conservative Supreme Court ruled as such. Just because it seems to have consequences along racial lines is purely coincidental, especially in a state like Alabama, where race has never ever ever been an issue.

There's a lot more than that, it just doesn't get caught. The thing is it's people voting absentee ballots in place of the rightful voter that can no longer do so.

You're in the "no documented evidence" camp?

Oregon would be the perfect state to demonstrate this issue. Though there was the whole ACORN thing where they were paying people to get voter registrations and then had the gall to prescreen the registrations and flag the ones they suspected of being illegitimate before handing them to the State (which was required by law... all forms had to be submitted) so it would be easier for the States to cut out the chaff. That was scandalous!

 

[AthenaAwakened]

A comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation finds 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast

There's a lot more than that, it just doesn't get caught.

why would you think that?

people in the US hardly use their own votes, so what makes you think they are trying to use someone else's?

The thing is it's people voting absentee ballots in place of the rightful voter that can no longer do so.

What?

 

[Trausti]

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/09/voter_id_and_drivers_license_o.html

Depending on which counties you count as being in Alabama's Black Belt, either twelve or fifteen Black Belt counties soon won't have a place to get a driver's license.

Counties where some of the state's poorest live.

Counties that are majority African-American.

Combine that with the federally mandated Star ID taking effect next year, and we're looking at a nightmare.

Or a trial lawyer's dream.

When the state passed Voter ID, Republican lawmakers argued that it was supposed to prevent voter fraud. Democrats said the law was written to disenfranchise black voters and suppress the voice of the poor.

Maybe, maybe not.

But put these two things together -- Voter ID and 29 counties without a place where you can get one -- and Voter ID becomes what the Democrats always said it was.

I think there's a bit of sophistry here. I don't live in Alabama, so I'll assume some of the facts stated in the opinion piece as true. It says that 29 of the driver license offices are slated for closure; 12 to 15 of these are purportedly in Alabama's "black belt." Okay. But this means that 14 to 17 of these closures would be in the predominately white counties of Alabama - or that the predominately white counties will be greater affected by this than the predominately black ones. Oddly, that doesn't seem to be a concern of the author.

Then there's the insinuation that this is some Republican plot to deny voting rights. Yet, the closures are not a directive of the Republican legislature but a budgeting decision by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. This agency is apparently Alabama's all-encompassing law enforcement organ, for which driver's licenses are are but a small function. The news release indicates:

During transition and the first two quarters of 2015, ALEA examined the core functions of each legacy agency and determined the Driver License system was inefficient and archaic. In July, Secretary of Law Enforcement Spencer Collier announced a series of technology-based improvements which will result in more efficient service and shorter wait times for citizens of Alabama including Online scheduling, Online driver license renewals, Self-serve kiosks, Digital licensing for smart phones, and Statewide equipment upgrades.

“Currently, ALEA maintains 75 Driver License district and field offices across the state but budget allocations do not cover costs and we operate with an $8.2 million deficit,” said Secretary of Law Enforcement Spencer Collier. “During the 2015 Regular and First Special Sessions, the Legislature proposed General Fund budget cuts ranging from 22% to 47% cut from ALEA’s Fiscal Year 2015 appropriation. Should the Legislature pass devastating budget cuts, it will be necessary for the Licensing Division to close Driver License district and field offices statewide.”

http://www.alea.gov/Home/wfFlyerDetail.aspx?ID=2&PK=3937bf74-dbf3-4edc-9b45-540d614c49c7

The news release notes that ultimately the goal is to have 12 driver licenses offices statewide. This is not unreasonable. Alabama is a small state with 67 counties. That a particular county does not have a driver license office is not a hardship if an office is ten to fifteen minutes away in the next county.

Attempts to stir the racial pot are not warranted.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/09/voter_id_and_drivers_license_o.html

I think there's a bit of sophistry here. I don't live in Alabama, so I'll assume some of the facts stated in the opinion piece as true.

Well, that is mighty white of you

It says that 29 of the driver license offices are slated for closure; 12 to 15 of these are purportedly in Alabama's "black belt." Okay. But this means that 14 to 17 of these closures would be in the predominately white counties of Alabama - or that the predominately white counties will be greater affected by this than the predominately black ones. Oddly, that doesn't seem to be a concern of the author.

Then there's the insinuation that this is some Republican plot to deny voting rights. Yet, the closures are not a directive of the Republican legislature but a budgeting decision by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

This agency is apparently Alabama's all-encompassing law enforcement organ, for which driver's licenses are are but a small function. The news release indicates:

During transition and the first two quarters of 2015, ALEA examined the core functions of each legacy agency and determined the Driver License system was inefficient and archaic. In July, Secretary of Law Enforcement Spencer Collier announced a series of technology-based improvements which will result in more efficient service and shorter wait times for citizens of Alabama including Online scheduling, Online driver license renewals, Self-serve kiosks, Digital licensing for smart phones, and Statewide equipment upgrades.

“Currently, ALEA maintains 75 Driver License district and field offices across the state but budget allocations do not cover costs and we operate with an $8.2 million deficit,” said Secretary of Law Enforcement Spencer Collier. “During the 2015 Regular and First Special Sessions, the Legislature proposed General Fund budget cuts ranging from 22% to 47% cut from ALEA’s Fiscal Year 2015 appropriation. Should the Legislature pass devastating budget cuts, it will be necessary for the Licensing Division to close Driver License district and field offices statewide.”

http://www.alea.gov/Home/wfFlyerDetail.aspx?ID=2&PK=3937bf74-dbf3-4edc-9b45-540d614c49c7

The news release notes that ultimately the goal is to have 12 driver licenses offices statewide. This is not unreasonable. Alabama is a small state with 67 counties. That a particular county does not have a driver license office is not a hardship if an office is ten to fifteen minutes away in the next county.

Attempts to stir the racial pot are not warranted.

Uh huh

AL.com’s John Archibald asserted in a column on Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice should open an investigation into the closings.

“Because Alabama just took a giant step backward,” he wrote. “Take a look at the 10 Alabama counties with the highest percentage of non-white registered voters. That’s Macon, Greene, Sumter, Lowndes, Bullock, Perry, Wilcox, Dallas, Hale, and Montgomery, according to the Alabama Secretary of State’s office. Alabama, thanks to its budgetary insanity and inanity, just opted to close driver license bureaus in eight of them.”

“Every single county in which blacks make up more than 75 percent of registered voters will see their driver license office closed. Every one,” Archibald explained. “But maybe it’s not racial at all, right? Maybe it’s just political. And let’s face it, it may not be either… But no matter the intent, the consequence is the same.”​

https://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/al...-in-counties-with-75-black-registered-voters/

NOW, because things don't happen in a vacuum or outside of historical narrative

It was Alabama that brought the country the Voting Rights Act (VRA) because of its brutality against black citizens in places like Selma. “The Voting Rights Act is Alabama’s gift to our country,” the civil-rights lawyer Debo Adegbile once said

And it was a county in Alabama–Shelby County–that brought the 2013 challenge that gutted the VRA. As a result of that ruling, those states with the worst histories of voting discrimination, including Alabama, no longer have to approve their voting changes with the federal government.

...

This is the very type of voting change–one that disproportionately burdens African-American voters–that would have been challenged under Section 5 of the VRA, which the Supreme Court rendered inoperative. “The voices of our most vulnerable citizens have been silenced by a decision to close 31 license facilities in Alabama. #RestoreTheVOTE,” tweeted Congresswoman Terri Sewell from Selma.

Approximately 250,000 registered voters in Alabama don’t have a driver’s license or acceptable form of voter ID. In the last election, a 93-year-old World War II veteran was turned away from the polls because of the new law. Only 41 percent of Alabamans voted in the 2014 election, the lowest turnout in the state in 28 years.

http://www.thenation.com/article/al...-rights-act-once-again-gutting-voting-rights/

The new voting laws appear to be having a directed effect, and this latest action will in all likelihood affect African American disproportionately.

Now I believe you when you say you do not live in Alabama. But you don't have to act like you are brand new to ever hearing about Alabama.

 

[Axulus]

I am in favor of having to show id to vote. After all, proving your identity is important and functioning without id is pretty much impossible anyway.
However, there should be a good coverage with driver's licence offices as well. At least 2 per county, more for more populous ones. They do not all have to be full service affairs with testing facilities but sufficient coverage with offices doing DL renewal and issuance of "id only" cards should be doable without breaking the budget.

Your beliefs are irrelevant in the face of the overwhelming actual evidence that voter ID is an method to dissuade and prevent certain groups from voting.

Isn't the requirement that you must be registered to vote just as much, if not more so, of a dissuading factor?

 

[fromderinside]

Isn't the requirement that you must be registered to vote just as much, if not more so, of a dissuading factor?

Not in Oregon. If you have turned 18 you are aromatically registered to vote. ...and we have vote by mail too.


Ya'll come on down ......

 

[AthenaAwakened]

Your beliefs are irrelevant in the face of the overwhelming actual evidence that voter ID is an method to dissuade and prevent certain groups from voting.

Isn't the requirement that you must be registered to vote just as much, if not more so, of a dissuading factor?

You can register to vote any time of the year. You can only actually vote within limited windows of time. And understand, the states that have instituted Voter ID, have instituted other laws as well to make voting harder, such as cutting down the number of days for early voting, getting rid of sunday voting, and restricting the types of id you can use as your photo id or to get your photo id.

This is just one part of a multifaceted plan that may not explicitly say it will limit the black vote in Alabama, but that is what it will do. Just watch.